Sorting system



Jan. 19, 1954 Filed May 24, 1951 A. F. DooLEY 2,666,537

SORTING SYSTEM 4 Sheets-Sheet l A. F. DOOLEY Jan. 19, 1954 SORTING SYSTEM 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 24, 1951 A. F. DOOLEY SORTING SYSTEM Jan. 19, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed May 24, 1951 INVENTOR.

``s'elected station.

Patented Jan. 19, 1954 soRTING SYSTEM Arthur F. Dooley, Manchester, Mass., assignor to Jordan Marsh Company', Boston, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts ApplicatioMay 24, 1951, Serial No. 228,059

2 Claims.

My invention relates to sorting and encompasses a conveyor systemequipped to discharge `selected objects at predetermined stations in accordance with a code or pre-arranged plan.

' Although the system of my invention is capable of use in a wide variety of industrial environments, I shall describe it asV it is employed; to sort retail store packages into various delivery zone groups.

` In large stores it is customary to send wrapped packages into a delivery room upon a long conveyor belt along which stand a number` of sorters whose duty it is to read the addresses or route code numbers on the packages and remove them from the belt at stations representing the different routes followed by the delivery trucks. It will be seen that the sorterV at the rst station must scan 100% of the packages in order to pick out those few bearing addresses in his zone. The last sorter theoretically has` only to remove all packages arriving at his station, although in practice packages for other stations reach him as the result of errors of the previous sorters. Such a system requires a large number of persons for work of a tedious kind.

The most important object of my invention is to provide a practicalautomatic sorting conveyor. Another object ofA the invention is rto reduce the oost of delivering merchandise by eliminating non-productive man hours wasted by sorters in scanning packages not pertinent to their activity.

Another object of the invention is to increase the speed and eiiiciency with which large numbers of Yobjects may be separated into discrete groups or classes.

An important feature of my invention resides `in the combination of a conveyor belt having a series of groups of holes, a plurality of means for removing objects from the belt, andn actuating ngers mounted beneath the belt in spaced laterally offset relation, each actuating finger being effective to operate one of said object-removing of holes by the package which will'ridev overthe desired finger. The ball then rides in the belt holey and upon the plate until it drops through the' hole 'inthe plate, operates the actuating iinlger and effects removal of the paclmgt at -the pre'- y Another important feature of my invention resides in a plurality of trays .hingedly mounted upon a traveling conveyor beneath lwhich is disposed a plurality of channels, each channel terminating at a diierent point opposite mechanism for tilting the tray to discharge its contents. Beneath each tray there depends a series of wipers each of which works in one of the channels, there being means for inserting balls in selected ones of the channels so that the wipers will move the balls along the channels until they drop into receiving tubes containing mechanism for actuating the tray tilting systems.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Ser. No. 111,471, filed August 20, 1949.

These and other objects and features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figs. l-3 are views in vertical cross-section through a ball-loading device associated with a conveyor belt,

Figs. 4 and 5 are views in vertical cross-section through the switch control device effective to operate the mechanism for removing packages at one selected station,

Fig. 6 is a plan view of a modified form of the invention, 1

Fig. 7 is a view in transverse cross-section 'through the embodiment shown in Fig. 6,

Fig. 8 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in longitudinal cross-section through the device shown in Fig. 6, and y Fig.v 9 is a view in perspective showing the relationship of the wiper, the channel and the ball.

Before proceeding to a detailed description of the Several parts I shall rst discuss in general the organization of the important instrumentalities and functions of the system of my invention. For'this purpose reference may be made to Figs. 6-9 wherein a complete unit is shown assembled about a long conveyor consisting of a pair of chains 514 and 5|@ mounted to run through a long straight reach. At the head end of the conveyor there is provided a plate Y532 extending transversely across the conveyor and provided with a series of vertical tubes 528, the upper end -of each of which terminates Within an elongated channel member`530. As shown in Fig. 6, each of the channels 53D is a different length, and

'there is at the far end of each channel 530 a ysecondfvertical tube 562. Spanning the chains 5H' the same type as those shown at |64 in Figs. 1-3 and they are associated with the same kind of ball loading mechanism operated by a keyboard so that the operator may cause a ball 536 to be deposited in any selected one of the channels 536.

As the trays and chains are moved, the wipers traverse the length of the channels 530 and a ball in any one of the channels will be pushed along it by the appropriate wiper 534 until it reaches the end of the channel. At the end of each channel there is a vertical receiving tube 562 which is precisely similar to the tubes 50 shown in Figs. 4 and 5 and which is provided with a switch tripping linger 62 operating a switch 6|).

Approximately opposite each one of the receiving tubes 562 there is a package discharging station including a vertical standard 546 supporting an arcuate track 548 and also a vertically mounted solenoid 554. At the head end of the arcuate track 548 there is a short pivotally mounted track section 556 normally held in horizontal position by a latch 558 engaging a projecting stop 560 on the track section 555. In the horizontal position the track section 556 clears the rollers 540 projecting outwardly from the successive trays 522. However, when the solenoid 554 is energized the latch is released to permit the track section 556 to pivot downwardly in position to encounter the oncoming roller 540 and thereby cause it to travel up the inclined track 548 and then back down again. During this operation the tray 522 is pivoted upwardly about the hinges 525 to the position shown in the broken lines in Fig. '7. The inclination of the tray 522 is sucient to cause any package placed thereon to slide off into a receiving chute (not shown). As the roller 540 travels up the pivoting track section 566 it encounters an upwardly inclined nger 551 and forces the track 556 to return to its latched horizontal position wherein the latch 558 again engages the stop 560 so that the track section 556 is held in elevated position until such time as the solenoid 554 is again energized. At the rear end of the track 548 is another pivoted track section 510 with which is integrally formed a counterweight 512 so dimensioned as normally to hold the track section 510 in horizontally elevated position. When the roller 540 travels down the rear portion of the track 548, it rolls onto the pivoting section 570 which is then lowered by the weight of the roller and tray so that the roller travels down it and back to its normal horizontal position. After the roller leaves the far end of the pivoting section 510, the counter- Weight is effective to restore this section to horizontal elevated position.

In summation, it will be evident that I have invented a sorting conveyor which is never stopped, thus facilitating rapid and eicient operation. Moreover since each object to be sorted is accompanied by one of the balls appropriately placed, the operation of the package removing mechanism is independent of the speed of the belt. If for some reason the belt is stopped while packages are upon it, no harm is done since the packages will be discharged at the proper location when the belt is again started up. When it is considered that in connection with ordinary conveyors used for sorting purposes by large retail establishments, for example, as many as thirty-one persons are employed in scanning the oncoming packages and removing them at the various stations, the importance of my invention will readily be understood. I-leretofore one sorting operator has been able to serve one or two routes, whereas in my system a single operator can serve six or eight routes, moving periodically from one to another to remove accumulated packages from the receiving chutes and place them into the delivery bins.

Although I have illustrated systems in which all objects are discharged on the same side of the conveyor belt, it is quite feasible, by obvious modications, to secure discharge on both sides. Also it will be apparent that the balls may be loaded by hand in the conveyor belt if for any reason such procedure is preferred.

It should be noted that the conveyor systems herein shown and described may be operated without the balls as conventional package sorting conveyors.

Having thus disclosed my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A sorting apparatus comprising a package conveyor, a plurality of package removers disposed at spaced intervals along the conveyor, a plurality of members forming longitudinal channels disp-osed beneath the conveyor, objects adapted to be moved along said channels, a plurality of rows of downwardly extending wipers secured at spaced intervals to said conveyor and disposed so that the wipers move in said channels, and independent means for actuating each package remover, each actuating means being disposed adjacent one of said removers and beneath said conveyor, each of said actuating means being responsive to one of said objects caused to move along one of said channels by one of said wipers.

2. A sorting apparatus comprising a plurality of members forming parallel channels of different lengths, objects adapted to be moved along said channels, a conveyor arranged to move longitudinally over said channels, a plurality of independent package removing devices disposed at spaced intervals along said conveyor, a plurality of rows of downwardly extending wipers secured to said conveyor and disposed to move in said channels, and means associated with each package removing device for the actuation thereof, said actuating means being disposed at the end of one of said channels for operation by one of said objects moved along the channel by the associated wiper.

' ARTHUR F. DOOLEY.

No references cited. 

